Jealousy and Bad Holiday Music
by sleepyaugustus
Summary: Annabeth isn't feeling the Christmas Spirit working at her local retail store, and it doesn't help that her coworker Percy is as festive as all royal candy canes :: Holiday prompt fill for pjowriters!


**Jealousy and Bad Holiday Music**

**PROMPT: "**_percy hugs his cousin and talks to her and annabeth gets jelly?_**"**

* * *

"Ten dollars and twenty-three cents is your total."

The bottoms of her feet were aching and the headpiece on her ear felt heavy. After a six-hour day walking up and down aisles and pulling merchandise to the front of shelves for none other than aesthetic purposes, Annabeth was feeling anything but "jolly."

Already, three customers had asked her where the bathrooms were, whether missing the huge green sign above her head that pointed out their destination or rather ignoring it, she didn't know. But she could say she was about ready to climb behind the customer service desk and hide until the holiday shoppers were gone with no promise of return until the next winter season.

"Is that _with_ my coupon? I don't see a discount here," the middle-aged woman pointed out, using a manicured finger to tap the little square of paper she'd placed on the counter between them, sliding it closer to Annabeth's hands on the cash register.

She sighed, running the coupon over her bar code scanner. The edges were messy and fringed, like they'd been hastily ripped from whatever catalog was stacked at the front of the store. Annabeth only had time to close her eyes in exasperation before a message popped onto her screen.

_Error. Customer has not spent the minimum amount to qualify for benefits_.

"What does this mean?" the woman snapped, reading the same message off the pin pad device in front of her. Annabeth lifted the coupon closer to her eyes and read the wording. _Fifteen percent off totals over twenty dollars_.

Annabeth suppressed the urge to roll her eyes; were people always so clueless? Or was there something in the hot chocolate this year? "This coupon only applies if you've spent over twenty dollars, ma'am."

The stout woman's fists shook and she breathed harshly out of her nose. "I'd like to speak to a manager," she hissed quietly.

With a dry look, Annabeth didn't break eye contact as she pinched the microphone attached to her headset. "Manager to register three," she intoned, blinking.

As she waited for someone to join her with the delight of a customer around the counter, the phones started ringing out their sharp tone. She didn't pay mind; they were set up by each register, and someone was bound to answer it eventually. Annabeth honestly didn't care who did, as long as it didn't have to be her.

What she didn't predict was for _him_ to answer it. Jeez, he wasn't even a _cashier_.

"'Scuse me, Annabeth," he told her cheerfully –_ so annoyingly cheer__full__y – _as he pushed into her booth. Percy Jackson didn't do much of anything productive in the store. She wasn't even sure what his job _was_, but it wasn't like he ever got less hours or laid off. He'd been working there longer than she had.

She knew him from school – he made sure to seek her out in the crowded hallways close to constantly. But she tried her best to ignore him there, too. It wasn't easy evading someone who was _everywhere_.

The little squared-in space for the cash registers was meant to fit one person. Definitely not one person _and_ some dumb ape named Percy Jackson. But that didn't stop him; he crowded in behind her counter, reaching for the phone and bringing it to his ear. He bumped her shoulder with his and gave her a smile. "Hello, Valued Customer. Percy speaking."

It was quiet for a few seconds as he listened and nodded, and Annabeth idly tried pushing his body farther away from hers. It was pointless. He was just too big and the space was too small, especially as he made the conscious effort to scoot further into her booth. He frowned at her weak attempts and pushed her back a little.

Annabeth groaned, shooting him a frustrated glare. "Percy, go away."

The phone balanced on his shoulder as he transferred the call to a manager with a click of a button. In such limited space, every move he made had him bumping into her – an elbow to her ribs, a shoulder blade in her eye, and he squashed her toes with his heavy winter boots. "Thanks for calling. Happy Holidays." With an exasperated sigh, he turned to her, wagging his finger. "Who spiked _your_ eggnog? I was on the phone, Annabeth."

There was no bite in his tone. His insufferable smile was too wide for anything to come from his chastisement but Christmas spirit. She wanted to puke.

She blinked instead, craning her head backward so his nose wasn't poking her temple. "Go away."

Narrowing his eyes the slightest bit, he hip-checked her – or at least tried to. Really, the action only shoved his body closer to hers, and she suddenly had no room to move. Percy was everywhere, and she was beginning to feel claustrophobic. "Is there anything I can help you with, ma'am?" he asked the stubby woman in front of them happily, full well knowing that Annabeth wanted him anywhere but where he was.

She had almost forgotten the woman was there. With a roll of her eyes, she tried to lean more into the counter to give herself some space from Percy. But it only backfired, as he too leaned over the counter, trying to better hear the customer over the awful holiday music blaring from the ceiling speakers.

"This _girl_ won't use my coupon," she growled, once again sliding the piece of paper closer to the two employees.

"This _lady_," Annabeth fired back. "has not spent the minimum amount for the coupon to qualify."

Percy pursed his lips. "I'm sure we could figure something out for you, ma'am. It is the holidays, after all."

Annabeth steadied her glare at him, keeping in mind what he had told her precisely two months ago in the break room – her gray eyes intimidated him. Percy craned his neck to look away from her and swallowed, offering another bright smile to the woman. "I'm sure Annabeth would love to help you out, too."

"No I wouldn't," Annabeth deadpanned, only for Percy's ears. Not like that was hard to achieve. _Silver Bells_ still played obnoxiously loud and Annabeth was practically breathing on his ear in their close proximity. Percy's smile faltered.

"She does!" He said, flicking his hand into a weak thumbs up. "Let's see what we can do…"

Annabeth's eyes widened as he shuffled around her to get at the register. His body pressed against hers for a solid three seconds before he had maneuvered away. Her cheeks burned and she didn't dare meet his eyes.

Seemingly oblivious, his fingers tapped against the register as he looked for a way to cut the woman's price. Annabeth wanted to protest; she was only buying coffee mugs for Kringle's sake! But that didn't seem to deter Percy. "Aha!" he proclaimed, grinning as he pointed to the pin pad device. "Your new total is…Eight dollars and seventy cents!"

The woman's scowl melted from her face and she smiled at Percy. "Thank you, young man! It's good to see _someone_ who actually cares about their customers over here." Percy must have missed the pointed look that was directed at Annabeth, because a fine pink blush spread over his cheeks.

She tried not to look at it for too long; it made her stomach feel weird.

"Just doing my job," he brushed off, wrinkling his nose and glancing at Annabeth.

Seeing her now lengthy line of customers, she waved her hand at the woman with an eyeroll. "Have a jolly day. Come back soon."

It was _then_ that a manager finally decided to show up. She glared at the man, the squat little woman waddling out of the store with discounted coffee mugs in hand. "Did you call, Annabeth?"

"Like, two hours ago," she complained bitterly. Her frown was accentuated as she tried, once again, to push Percy out of her cubby. "This oaf already came to the rescue, thanks."

Percy smiled, locking his hands onto the walls of the booth and refusing to move. "I'm happy to help, Annabeth!" He threw one of his arms around her shoulder and her face was shoved into his armpit. She could taste his deodorant. "Next time, try to work on your Holiday Spirit!"

Her voice was muffled as she replied, but no less venomous. "You have three sec-"

He retracted his arm.

"Anyway," he continued. "It's all handled, AJ. Thanks for coming over."

The manager clapped Percy on the back. "This is why we keep you around, Jackson." Annabeth pretended to gag, pulling her face from Percy's body. "Oh- Before I forget. There's a girl at the front of the store. She's looking for you."

AJ winked before walking away. Percy started to grin; there was an eager, excited glint in his eyes. "Took her long enough! I've been waiting forever!" he shouted.

Annabeth ignored the drop in her stomach at how easily another girl could get Percy out of her cubby when she'd beent trying for at least fifteen minutes. He hopped up over her counter without so much as a second glance back at Annabeth as he ran toward the front of the store. For a second, she had a crazy vision of herself grabbing his wrist and tugging him back behind the counter with her, letting him squish her for the rest of her shift.

It was ridiculous, really.

Her next customer in the queue stepped up, unloading their items onto her counter. Annabeth told herself she was watching the front doors to spot potential theft – not because Percy's little female friend was supposedly up there.

She barely registered the customers making conversation with her, her responses halfhearted if any at all. Her eyes trained on her coworker as he flung himself into the arms of a pretty teenage girl. She nuzzled her face into Percy's holiday sweater he'd worn and Annabeth decided that she never really liked Christmas anyway.

The girl wasn't familiar. Her long hair was straight and brown, and Annabeth found one of her hands traveling up to bitterly twist a blonde curl. She'd never liked her own hair, and it must not have been Percy's type either – not that she cared. Like…at all.

But she kind of did?

He lifted the girl off the ground and twirled her around. Annabeth could hear the squeal from across the store, and she clenched her jaw at the terribly pitched sound. Were girls _always_ this annoying?

The man waiting to be checked out cleared his throat. Annabeth shook her head and scanned in his sticky notes and bag of pretzels, forcing her eyes to repel from _that_ direction of the store.

A crackly voice buzzed into her headset. "_Annabeth, you can take a fifteen._"

Almost too quickly, she pushed the man's plastic bag into his hand and flipped a switch that snuffed out the light on the big number three of her register. The customers in her line groaned as they dispersed to find another open station.

Relieved to get away, Annabeth found herself rushing to the break room. Her feet still ached, but she was able to ignore the pain this time around. _Deck The Halls_ was assaulting her ears as she finally pushed through the doors to the restricted employee quarters and slipped into the break room. Someone else was in there. Jason, she remembered his name was. He pushed his glasses up his nose as his other thumb swiped across his cell phone.

She sighed, plopping into the chair next to his. "Hey," she said, grabbing a water bottle from the table in front of them.

"Hi, Annabeth." His eyes were still trained on his phone. "Is it still crazy out there?"

"Of course," she scoffed, kicking her feet onto the table. "It's a miracle how annoying people get around the holidays."

He hummed, clicking his phone off and shoving it into the pocket of his khakis. Jason had taken advantage of their retail store's leniency in uniform for the holidays and was wearing a sweater similar to Percy's. "Someone tried to bite me today," he said, gesturing to his shoulder. "She was like…a thousand years old. I thought she might crumple into dust if I pushed her away."

Annabeth laughed, running her fingers through her messy hair. She hadn't bothered to straighten it this morning, and _no_, she wasn't regretting that fact because Percy's friend had perfectly straight hair. Probably naturally. No, not because of his beautiful friend at all.

Shut up.

"Percy smothered me in my booth and then gave a lady fifteen percent off for no good reason," she complained. "And that freaking music is giving me a headache."

Jason smirked. "You need more Holida-"

"If you tell me that I need any kind of 'spirit', I will shove that tin can of Christmas cookies from aisle four down your throat, Jason. They're only 2.99."

Bravely, he laughed. "Okay, okay. I surrender. Been told enough times today?"

"That doesn't even cover it," she grumbled.

She heard laughter, and before she was able to detect who it might be, the two offenders had already arrived. Percy and his _friend_ had entered the break room.

"She shouldn't be in here," Annabeth muttered under her breath, ignoring the newest appearances and focusing on tearing the label off of her water bottle. A scowl twisted her lips.

"Hi," Jason greeted, voice holding confusion. "Who's this, Perce?"

At the mention of the girl, Percy grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "This is Bianca. She's my-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Annabeth was shooting up from her seat. "I left my phone in the car." Even though the item was very obviously forming a block in her back pocket, she ignored the confused glances and hurriedly left the room.

"Annab-" Percy called, but she chose not to hear him, rushing out the back doors into the employee parking lot.

She stayed in her car for the remainder of her fifteen minutes, knowing it was the only safe place against Percy and his very attractive girlfriend. She felt stupid – thinking he'd been flirting with her all those times in the past. Over the last few months, Annabeth had convinced herself that Percy had a thing for her. And to find out that he was _with_ someone… Embarrassment rose hot inside of her and she bit her lip harshly to force away all thoughts of Percy.

"_Annabeth_," her headset crackled. "_You weren't completely obvious at all, if you were wondering_." Jason's voice was light, but Annabeth still felt like slamming her head against her steering wheel.

"Remember the cookies, Jason," she threatened, sliding out of her tiny car and heading back into the building. Her shift ended in forty-five minutes, and she only hoped she could last that long.

By sheer luck, she managed to check out customers in her regular dry demeanor without giving any sign that she currently had only one thing pulsing in her thoughts. Jealousy – bitter, gross, and definitely not welcome – robbed her mind's conscious thought like a pesky mosquito sucking her blood dry in summer heat.

And she had even been able to evade the sight of Percy, even after the girl had left. She wasn't in the mood to deal with what he was making her feel. And she didn't plan on confronting these feelings – at all. Like, ever.

Well, that had been up until he had finally cornered her.

Annabeth was on her way out. Free, finally, from the horrendous mountains of holiday shoppers climbing over each other to get to the barely-there deals. _Santa Baby_ was rattling in her mind and she would have given anything to get to her car and blast any music that wasn't what she'd been forced to listen to all day.

But of course–

"Annabeth! Wait up!"

–she was never that lucky.

Percy caught up to her just before she made it out the back doors and into the parking lot. She planned to ignore him and continue out, pretending she hadn't heard his call, but his hand had already circled her wrist. He was catching his breath when he spoke. "Are you avoiding me? I feel like you're avoiding me."

She mustered the energy to roll her eyes. But that _damn music_ was still in earshot and all Annabeth really wanted in that moment was solitude and a nap. "Where's your _friend_?" she replied instead, acid soaking her words.

His charcoal eyebrows furrowed and he pushed the sleeves of his sweater up to his elbows. She wanted to shout, "_No! You don't get to do that! Putting your arms on display is __no__t fair!_"

But she couldn't even get herself to admit she _had_ the thought.

"What- Bianca?" He asked, forehead puckered. "She's back at my house. She's staying over for the holidays."

Annabeth's eyes widened and she practically tripped over her own feet, losing her balance and stumbling to the side. Luckily – or not, she hadn't decided yet – Percy had quick reflexes, and had grabbed hold of her arm before she fell.

"Whoa! Are you okay? Annabeth, you're freaking me out here."

"I'm fine," she snapped, tugging her arm out of his grasp. She pretended not to see the hurt expression he wore, because he had a _girlfriend_, who was staying over at his _house_. And Annabeth wasn't stupid. She knew how horny teenagers were, and how little self-control Percy had.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay," he soothed. "Do you need a ride home tonight? It snowed pretty hard today, and I'm not sure your tiny car will make it."

She rolled her eyes. "No. Now, get away from me." It wasn't like their usual banter. She knew she was hurting his feelings with her piercing tone, but she couldn't help to project her anger onto him. Her chest ached when her mind chose that moment to bring up the image of him twirling that girl around so carelessly. Like he didn't even care that Annabeth could have been watching the exchange.

She made to step around his body.

"_Wait_," Percy commanded, stopping her by using his arm to block her path. The typical lightness he always carried had dissolved from his voice. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Nothing. Go back home to your 'Bianca.'"

Green eyes narrowed. "Is _that_ what this is about? Bianca?"

When Annabeth didn't answer, the metaphorical lightbulb blinked above Percy's head. He gaped. "Annabeth– you're jealous, aren't you?"

She shook her head, trying to shove past his arm, but he only used the movement to his advantage, pulling her closer to him. "You are! Annabeth, you're totally jealous!"

"Scream it to the world, why don't you?" she spat, elbowing him in the ribs. "I'm not doing this with you, Percy."

His expression softened, and he let her go. Only to put both his hands on her shoulders. He was smiling a little, almost hesitant. "Annabeth, you shouldn't be jealous." He shook his head and chuckled. "Bianca's my cousin. She lives in Maine, and I hadn't seen her since I was in the ninth grade."

As the realization set onto her features – that, _oh_, Bianca wasn't actually Percy's girlfriend, and _shit_, she was an idiot – blood filled her cheeks and her expression pinched. Percy smiled again, using his arms to pull her into his body. He hugged her tight against him, which only served to darken her blush.

"Oh, Annabeth. You silly, silly girl."

"I'll feed you to the elves."

He pulled back to study her quizzically. "I swear it's like you've gotten more violent over the holidays."

She shrugged.

Suddenly, his eyes flung up, locking on something above them. When they came back down, his face had morphed into an evil smirk. "Mistletoe. You know what that means."

Her eyebrows pulled together. Mistletoe in the employee quarters at work? Not likely. She looked up to see a ratty glass light bulb dangling above them. "Uh, Percy. That's-"

"Mistletoe," he interrupted, with a nod. "I know. Now, kiss me."

She tried to ignore the persistent thump in her chest. "Nice try."

He let out a suffering sigh. "God dammit, I always have to have enough Christmas spirit for the both of us – it'd be tiring if I didn't like you so much."

Annabeth would have protested. Because no one _needed_ Christmas spirit, in her opinion. But her mouth was sort of busy all of a sudden. Percy's lips were pressed to hers, and she forgot how to do that "grinch" thing she was so good at.

Percy tasted like peppermint and hot chocolate. And he was so _warm_. From his arms around her back, to his hands on each of her cheeks, to his lips on hers; Annabeth thought she could have melted right then.

When he pulled away, he was grinning. And she definitely wasn't imagining the dazed look on his face, mirroring the same one she wore. "It's been such a good day," he mumbled, smile goofy and cheeks pink. "I love Christmas."

She snorted. "You're such a dork."

"A dork that made _you_ jealous with his _cousin_."

"So help me, I will shove a candy cane up your a-"

Once again, Annabeth found her mouth too busy to finish the response. She wasn't nearly as annoyed as she should have been.

"I think you like kissing me-"

"I'm going home now, Percy."

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**A/N: Originally posted on December 25th, 2014 to the pjowriters page on tumblr! Check it out for more Christmas fic by the lovelies, Rachel and Casey!**


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